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01 December 2010

Remembering: Radvent Journal

Because it sounds fun, and because Megan said so, i'm joining a new advent tradition of reflecting on the experiences of the past year, and looking forward to the plans and goals of the year to come. it's a journaling/blogging project, and because i'm a middle child and feel like i need to entertain you, you're welcome to follow along! Check out Megan's website for the inspiration and direction :) ours will be a bit different than most, because it's all j/k/wedding/marriage related. how nice!

we don't date back five years ago, so i'll start from the beginning of us. the picture above is believed to be the first ever documented interaction between j and k. i'm the one in green scrubs with a backpack (nurse purse). j is standing directly to my left, completely oblivious to the fact that his future wife is a mere three steps away. hi, my name is karin, and someday soon i'm going to love you forever. nice to meet you. please pass the ibuprofeno, this mexicano has dolor de cuerpo. we were somewhere near Tlanchinol, Mexico on a medical mission trip. but, that wasn't the first time we met. i went over to j's house to watch a football game with friends, but only because i was being a wing-woman for my super awesome friend andrea. it was magical. there was j, clad in shorts and slippers, offering enthusiastic commentary for the game and eating ALL of our cheez-it party mix. i don't know if he remembers that. it was november of 2006, my last year of nursing school, and his second year of medical school. it wasn't until i graduated the following May that we actually had a conversation. i won't tell you what it was about. you had to be there.

i don't remember everything leading up to our inevitable engagement, but there are a few things that have stuck in my mind: volunteering him to paint my kitchen cabinets - bustin moves at my sister's wedding - chatting online (figures) - sorting pills together in mexico - making fun of his fanny pack "doctor bag" - calling him whenever i had a mental breakdown - talking about africa - sunday night dinners - coffee dates - being so excited when he came back to town - the bee costume of '08 - a surprising number of egg jokes - and, remembering how nervous i was to tell him that i was ready to be a big girl and start a long distance relationship. i believe i was quivering.

through it all, i remember always being friends. i can't remember a time when j was anything but kind, helpful, and sincere. the past four years with j have yielded in me a sense of security and trust in our current relationship, and a hope that this feeling will continue to grow.

there are times when i wish things had worked out long ago when we met. i wonder about what our lives would look like right now. maybe we'd already be married, living in Texas with baby j/k and our dog that i would have reluctantly agreed to adopting, working on my master's degree online or something. on the flip side, maybe i would have scared him away for good ;). but, here we are. for a reason. experiencing something neither of us saw actually happening, and loving every minute of it.

looking forward, i'm super exited to think of the new traditions we'll start, and what we'll be doing to get ready for Christmas next year. i hope we'll be sipping warm glass mugs of mulled cider through cinnamon sticks in front of a crackling fire, but the more likely scenario involves j cutting up someone's guts while k spends too much time searching for the perfect fonts for the TeamAlbin Christmas card. get excited for that!